My Neighbor

Dog Poop

This isn’t literally my neighbor, it is from one of his Labradors. Maybe the neighbor sees his two dogs as making poops in the image of their master and hence they must be seen by all. Could my neighbor have a poop allergy and would break into hives coming into contact with this pile of canine scat? The dog did unload next to another neighbor’s Harley; maybe he, too, hates that noisemaker as much as we do and was leaving him a message? No matter what, I will get my revenge. I have been watching this neighbor and am training my cat so when next summer comes around and he leaves a window open, I’ll shove Murphy the Cat into his apartment to leave one of her special Seafood Captain’s Choice bombers that have been known to force Caroline and me out of our own front door.

Sampling of Yummy

Scharffen Berger chocolate selection

The taste and smell of a local flavor or aroma can be one of the best reminders to bring forth memories of good times past. From Hawaii, we frequently buy Stone Cookies, the smell of Eucalyptus soap from Big Sur takes us back to the coast, the wish for a Key Lime Pie on a Stick keeps our memories of Key West alive and well. Pralines from The Praline Connection in New Orleans are like pralines from nowhere else. The Belgian Hot Chocolate at the El Tovar Dining Room on the rim of the Grand Canyon may be the greatest in the world, but you can’t mail order it, nor can you mail order fresh strawberries from Oxnard, California – yum. While in San Francisco we picked up a sampler of Scharffenberger chocolates to bring our sweet memories rushing back.

Sharon the Car Rental Queen

Sharon, owner of a local franchise operation for Budget Rent A Car in Phoenix, Arizona

This is Sharon, she has been renting Caroline and I cars for our long road trips for more than five years now. Sharon is the franchise owner of a local outlet of Budget Rent A Car at 17023 N. Black Canyon Highway in Phoenix. Living in Phoenix, It is a rarity to do business with the same person for such a long period of time and we are super appreciative of it. Our car was due yesterday but I was so exhausted and short of time that I requested an extra day for the same rate and sure enough, lucky me, got it. Unless Sharon is planning on retiring early, we will continue doing business with her long into the future.

We’re Home

Full Mailbox

I’m so tired. Home at 2:30 a.m., up again at 7:00 – we slept in. The litter pan is full, the mailbox is full, but my head is empty. The rental car will have to be returned tomorrow. I am going to have a bite to eat and go back to sleep. Slept most of the day and went to sleep early in the evening. Nothing unpacked, didn’t listen to voice-mail, couldn’t cook. Maybe there is some truth to those words people keep telling me, that as I get older we won’t be able to travel as we have been. Right now those nearly 1500 miles (2430km) in two days of driving are taking their toll.

Sunrise in Santa Cruz

Sunrise looking out over a lighthouse in Santa Cruz, California

The day starts shortly before 6:00 a.m., and lucky for us it did. This sunrise is courtesy of our perch on the shore in Santa Cruz, California.

Linda's Seabreeze Cafe in Santa Cruz, California

Our excellent breakfast was at Linda’s Seabreeze Cafe, which, along with the lighthouse view, made for the perfect beginning to the day.

Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, California

Of special note: this post is being updated in February 2023 with the addition of 13 photos that were also taken during this trip from November 2006. They weren’t included back then as bandwidth limitations restricted be to 1 photo per post. The original text that described the day has been distributed between the new photos and, where possible, expanded upon.

Caroline Wise at Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California

Monterey begged us to stop to visit some of the locations we had just finished reading about in Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. Visiting the aquarium today wasn’t to happen as with more than 700 miles needing to be covered, free time is at a premium.

Big Sur, California

Maybe stupidly, maybe indulgently, we opted to skip Highway 101, which travels inland at quite a fast pace and took good old Highway 1 south along the coast.

Big Sur, California

We are suckers for the Pacific; even if it does mean we won’t get home until almost 2:30 in the morning. The weather along the coast was picture-perfect all day.

Big Sur, California

We often stop to take photos of places we’d like to stay in the future but nearly always fail to reference the old directories to find those clues. Maybe if I’d been able to write extensive posts during these days, we’d have had an easier way of finding the hints but the truth is that blog posts are not always easy things to search when looking for specific information.

Big Sur, California

Caroline asked for a stop at the Big Sur River Inn General Store to pick up her all-time favorite Eucalyptus Soap from Big Sur Country Soap. A coffee stop at the Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant is now a part of our routine – we have lost count of how many times we have been here. The view is from Nepenthe Restaurant and gift shop.

Big Sur, California

If it were possible to commit every shift in perspective to be experienced along the central California coast in our memories, Caroline and I would collect and cherish each and every one. Having made this pilgrimage seemingly countless times and finding the reality of our adventures no less exciting than the first journey, the photos drawn from those days work to draw us back and remind us of how fortunate we’ve been to drive Highway 1 as frequently as we have.

Big Sur, California

One hundred years ago, the only way anyone was going to see this view was to take a seriously long walk from points inland, or they would have boarded a ship plying California’s coastal waters, dropping the person at one of the few ports so they could make the cumbersome travel over the rugged terrain. Today, we jump in the car and drive 15 to 20 times faster than we could walk and pull over to take it all in. We live in an incredible age where I don’t think we always see clearly how lucky we are.

Lucia Lodge in Big Sur, California

Lucia Lodge is not cheap, but the location is hard to beat.

Elephant Seals in San Simeon, California

A final pullover to see the elephant seals near San Simeon once again, and then it was serious business to get home – it took another 12 hours before we would put our sleepy heads to rest.

Highway 46 looking west in California.

Okay, just one more look back at the beautiful sea.

James Dean Memorial Junction in Cholame, California

While we didn’t have time to visit the James Dean Memorial itself, we snapped this photo to remind us to return. As of 2023, we’ve passed through here a few more times but still haven’t paid homage to the memorial.

Fallen

Dutch Bros. Coffee in Newport, Oregon

February 2023 update: this post is being updated from 2 photos, which in itself was rare back in 2006, with a few more of the images that defined the day for Caroline and me. Gleaned from cold storage and not in the original text, we left our most excellent yurt at Beverly Beach State Park in the dark, stopping at Dutch Bros. also in Newport, Oregon, for coffee and driving south to North Bend before dipping into the Pancake Mill for breakfast two hours later.

Pancake Mill Restaurant in North Bend, Oregon

A bit of a boring photo for sure, but sometimes, the boring must accompany the stellar in order for contrast to be well understood. There was likely something else at work that we succumbed to while out here in Oregon, the need to linger for another moment in the gray. Nothing quite like hanging out in a diner, cafe, or restaurant to linger in the vibe we reluctantly must leave.

Coquille River Lighthouse at Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon, Oregon

Today will be all about the southerly direction we must go, and it is with that reality that we find ourselves adjacent to the Coquille River Lighthouse at Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon. Our original plan was to cut from the coast to U.S. Highway 5 for a faster drive home, but poor weather in the mountains and bridge repairs in Northern California have us taking the long, slow, scenic way home along the coast.

Bandon, Oregon

And, of course, we must stop for these moments of blue sky as it may be all we’ll witness on this day.

Face Rock in Bandon, Oregon

If only Face Rock, also in Bandon, could talk, I’d ask it how many days it has been witness to blue skies, though I might also enquire if it has seen a stray UFO here or there.

Abandoned home roadside in Oregon

Of course, I wanted to enter this abandoned house, but things we relatively kept up, meaning for all I knew, the place only looked as though no one was living there.

Port Orford, Oregon

No time to go down to the docks here at Port Orford. Heck, what am I even doing with all this driving still ahead of me?

Near Gold Beach, Oregon

I know we are trying to keep a solid pace, but how can I just drive by this scene at Gold Beach, ignoring its aesthetic brilliance?

Meyers Creek Beach near Gold Beach, Oregon

This may well turn out to be the most dramatic shot I’ll ever shoot of the shark fin rock here at Meyers Creek Beach, but that doesn’t imply I won’t try again and again over the approaching years of doing better.

Hitchhiker in Crescent City, California

For a minute, we felt sympathy for this guy; we even refused his offer of money. He wasn’t with us long before he needed to get out of our car. The lesson was learned: guys too well dressed for small-town America hitchhiking are probably sociopaths, and as soon as you tune into the crazy talk, it might even be better to boot them from the car with the first verbal transgression. Lucky for him, we took him as far as Eureka before insisting that there was no way he was going any further with us.

Redwoods in Northern California

After filling up on Dutch Bros. again, this time in Eureka after ditching creeper dude, we stopped in at the Humboldt Redwoods State Park to commune with nature and wash our mistake off of us, only to record here on the blog for posterity.

Leave of fall among the Redwoods in California

Sunlight has started to fade, and yet we still have 300 more miles of driving before reaching Santa Cruz, California, south of San Francisco. Should we make it to our hoped-for destination, we’ll have covered more than 700 miles today.

Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco, California

Speaking of San Francisco, why not pull into the city for a dinner break? Oh, this looks interesting: Hakka cuisine in the style of Szechuan flavors, and we were the only non-Chinese customers; as a matter of fact, I think that even the menu presented us with some challenges. We ended up with a whole fish that we split before returning to the road for the final leg of today’s journey.